10 Best Ear Protection for Shooting – Which One Should You Get?

Are you making use of ear protection when you shoot? Are you aware of the damaging effects that firearms can have on your hearing? Partial or permanent hearing loss is no laughing matter and shooting without some sort of ear protection is never a good idea. Our 10 best ear protection for shooting review will help you select hearing protection that suits you best.

The highest quality and best value ear protection for shooting can be obtained from Howard Leight Electronic Shooting Earmuff. This model of hearing protection blocks out the most damaging decibel level noises from your firearm, but does not limit what you can hear in the environment around you. Consider this ear protection or one of the other brands, but before you do, let’s examine how to choose the perfect ear protection for shooting.

How to Choose The Perfect Ear Protection for Shooting

The damage which can be done to your ears from shooting a firearm is measured using three different measurements of sound:

• Frequency. Measured in hertz, this is the high or low pitch of a sound.

• Duration. This is a measurement of how long the report of the rifle lasts.

• Intensity. This is how loud or soft the sound is in decibels (dB).

Though the other two measurements factor in, it is decibels or intensity which does the most damage from shooting without ear protection.

Examples of Decibel Levels

Examples of Decibel Levels

To get a better understanding of the variations of decibel levels, here are a few common sounds and their decibel levels:

• Normal conversation is around 60 dB.

• Most lawn mowers operate at about 90 dB.

• A jet engine puts out 140 dB.

• A rocket launching off of a launch pad tops the scale at 180 dB.

Where does a firearm fall among these intensity levels? The report of a firearm is plus or minus 140 dB, depending upon the caliber and ammunition being fired. Obviously a .22 does not put out that level of intensity, but some higher powered rifles with magnum cartridge loads exceed it.

How Many Decibels Can the Ear Endure?

How Many Decibels Can the Ear Endure?

How loud is too loud for the human ear? Researchers agree that someone exposed to 8 continuous hours of noise at 85 dB would experience some permanent hearing loss. However, short spikes of an intensity of 130 dB or more can also cause some permanent damage instantly.

Clearly, every shot you take with your firearm without proper protection for your ears can cause some permanent hearing loss. If you consider how many shots you have fired without ear protection already and the potential number of shots you will likely fire in the future, getting protection for your ears when shooting should probably become a priority.

How to Protect Your Ears While Shooting

How to Protect Your Ears While Shooting

Using hearing protection devices like sound muffling earplugs or earmuffs while shooting your rifle is the best protection against doing permanent damage to your hearing. Their sound reduction rating should be between 25 dB and 35 dB of protection. You might be thinking that that amount of protection doesn’t get you down to 85 dB, so it wouldn’t prevent damage, but you have to remember that hearing damage at that level was over a duration of 8 continuous hours, not the duration of the report of a firearm.

There are a number of different types of ear protection for shooting to consider:

• Disposable foam earplugs.

• Reusable rubber earplugs.

• Clamp over the ear units.

• Shooting earmuffs.

• Electronic noise reduction earmuffs.

Obviously each of these is going to provide more or less protection than the others and the price range is going to vary between them as well.

What About Comfort?

What About Comfort?

Comfort is a legitimate question, especially if you have to wear your ear protection for several hours while you are hunting or training. Your own personal preference and the design of the ear protection will contribute to comfort significantly. Unfortunately, fitting some forms of ear protection is more challenging than others, so we will do our best to guide you in this choice.

What About Hearing the Environment Around Me?

What About Hearing the Environment Around Me?

One of the biggest complaints of many hunters and shooters when it comes to ear protection for shooting is that they cannot hear the environment around them while wearing ear protection. This is a legitimate complaint, because hearing your environment while hunting is critical to successfully locating your game and hearing your environment on a shooting range is concerned with instruction and safety. Various design and quality features can overcome this complaint and adds obvious value to your choice of ear protection as well.

With the above cautions and concerns in mind, let’s take a look at 10 of the best ear protection for shooting on the market so you can make a more informed choice.

These Howard Leight Shooting Earmuffs have digital amplification and sound reduction which keeps all ambient noise at a constant 82 dB. Their moderate to low profile earmuff design makes for more comfort while shooting.

These earmuffs feature microphones that listen for sounds and automatically shut out any sounds that exceed 82dB and also allow you to connect to scanners and MP3 players.

Specs:

• Rating: maintains 82dB ambient sound

• Weight: 17 oz.

• Design bulkiness: medium thickness earmuff, fully collapsible

These are pretty high tech and are hard to pass up because they ensure ear protection at an optimal level, but allow you to be able to clearly hear ambient sounds around you which is the ideal situation for someone who is hunting.

Though they are a little less bulky, they are a little on the heavy side, require batteries and you pay a little bit more for the electronic technology.

PROS

Lightweight durable design

High decibel rating

Great guarantee for fitting and comfort concerns

Moderate price

CONS

Bulky, full thickness earmuffs tend to be uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time

Passive noise reduction without batteries is provided by the Mpow Noise Reduction Safety Ear Muffs. They are one size fits all with comfort padding, lightweight and easy to store or carry in the bag provided.

Specs:

• Rating: 28dB

• Weight: 10.09 oz.

• Design bulkiness: full thickness earmuff, collapsible

When you see the phrase “one size fits all,” it is difficult not to think that you will be the one size that it doesn’t fit.

Apart from that, these earmuffs appear to be designed for comfort and provide adequate noise reduction for shooting.

They have an extremely high user satisfaction rating and are priced for any budget.

Peltor Sport Tactical 100 Electronic Hearing Protector

The Peltor Sport Tactical 100 Electronic Hearing Protector ear muffs utilize adaptive frequency response technology to not only suppress the report of a firearm, but allows for conversation or the ability to hear environmental sounds.

Auxiliary input is also provided for and they have a moderate to slender profile for more comfort when shooting a rifle or shotgun.

Specs:

• Rating: 22 dB

• Weight: 16 oz.

• Design bulkiness: slender earmuff, fully collapsible

The major difference between these earmuffs and the other electronic noise reduction muffs is that these don’t have as good of a decibel rating and they are slightly more slender in their design.

Their weight is no different, but they do not have as high of a user satisfaction rating and they are about double the price.

The durable shell on these Fnova Safety Ear Muffs allows them to take quite a bit of abuse, but they have a surprisingly comfortable fit. Their non-deforming headband allows for one size fits all adjustment and they provide the highest passive noise reduction rating available as well.

Specs:

• Rating: 34 dB

• Weight: 14.4 oz.

• Design bulkiness: full thickness earmuff, collapsible

Here we are with one size fits all again. The durability of the construction of these earmuffs is impressive, as is its comfort features. One very important feature, where finding the proper fit is concerned, is the 60 day, no risk, money back guarantee. They include a decent user satisfaction rating and are budget priced too.

Unlike foam plugs, these are hypoallergenic, reusable silicon plugs with a cord to place around your neck to keep from losing them and a hard case to keep them in.

Specs:

• Rating: 28 dB

• Weight: 0.8 oz.

• Design bulkiness: silicon ear plug with cord and carrying case

These reusable earplugs have a decent noise reduction rating and their soft, silicon construction makes them much more comfortable to wear than foam earplugs.

They muffle environmental sounds as well as firearms reports, so they aren’t ideal for hunting except that you can take one earplug out, leave it to hang around your neck and put it in before you take a shot, which is something you can’t do with foam plugs or earmuffs.

Final Verdict

Howard Leight Electronic Shooting Earmuff

Now that you are well aware of the damage that can be done to your ears from the high decibel report of a firearm, it takes little more encouragement to convince you to invest in ear protection for shooting.

Personal preference, quality and value all play a role in making a selection of the best ear protection. We have given the nod to the Howard Leight Electronic Shooting Earmuff.

These high tech muffs are hard to pass up because they ensure ear protection at an optimal level while still allowing you to hear ambient sounds from the environment around you.

They are a little on the heavy side compared to passive noise reduction shooting earmuffs, but their less bulkiness and optimal noise reduction technology make up for those shortcomings.

Your preferences might run in a different direction concerning technology in ear protection. You may favor the non-bulky option of earplugs. No matter what suits your personal preference, invest in ear protection for shooting.

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